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Richard Kudeweh is thankful to Hamilton City Council for the additional $80,000 payment to his family, but says no amount of money will bring his beloved wife home.

The Hamilton City Council this morning confirmed it will pay the $80,000 to the family after Samantha Kudeweh was killed by tiger Oz in his enclosure at Hamilton Zoo in September last year.

The council was sentenced for its part in her death in the Hamilton District Court two weeks ago, and Judge Denise Clarke said a $100,000 emotional harm payment was appropriate. But she waived it, noting the council had already made voluntary payments totalling $116,000.

She imposed a $38,250 fine and ordered $10,000 reparation to the couple's children.

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"There's been some councillors out there who have been paying close attention to the [court] outcome and haven't really felt that the outcomes have been correct.

"I'm appreciative of not so much the money but the people standing up because there was an award made by the court and unfortunately, to be perfectly frank, those decisions made by the court were made by information that was either misleading or was actually completely incorrect.

"Whether that's the fault of the lawyers or whatever, but the judge made a very bad call."

However, he said no amount of money would bring his wife back.

"I've lost so much, I've lost a hell of a lot more than 80,000 bucks ... I am appreciative. There's families out there that $80,000 means the world to, $20,000 does, but I'm in a different scenario ... in my life it's less significant than someone else's life."

The council said it would not be making any further comment about the payment.